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Using the 2002 NEC, What's wrong here?

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[This message has been edited by Joe Tedesco (edited 08-09-2002).]

250.53 (G)
Last sentence.
The upper end of the electrode shall be flush with or below ground level unless the aboveground end and the GEC attachment are are protected against physical damage.
BTW,
I would have the conductor on the other side of the rod, with the set screw biting into the rod itself.

I believe that the "acorn" clamp is used incorrectly. As Redsy said, the method we have always used is the rod is between the setscrew and the conductor. In the manner it's installed, physical damage will be inflicted on the conductor.

Also. the rod must be flush or below grade, or protected from physical damage.

HotLine1
John

We use similar style clamps in England.

I agree with you -- I always put the cable on the opposite side to the set screw.

Appears to me that the rod is cut about half-way-thru just below the acorn clamp losing circumference.

That 'groove' is there so an inspector can tell if the entire rod is driven into the ground. Pulling these things out after hitting ledge or a stone is not a fun or productive thing to do. (Why does it happen at 6 1/2 feet?)

Wondering what are some techniques some of you guys use for driving them in or pulling them out?

We us a Bosch Demo Hammer with a ground rod attachment. Works great and easy on the body.

I use a rotary hammer with rod attachment. Best money I ever spent. When I have to do it by hand I use a "monster maul". It's an over sized wood splitting maul that has a 32" hollow pipe handle and a 16 pound head. Just slide handle over rod and go.

We put in 18 one day at a mobile home park we set up. Put 17 of them in with the front endloader bucket on a 40hp Kabota tractor.
Start them in a hole with a shovel and let the bucket down. One hit a rock and doubled back and came back out about two and half feet above grade. We replaced it with a new one drove with a Milwaukee demo hammer and ground rod attachment.

I have found radically different soil conditions within ten miles...from mean hardpan to one that just about was lost in “quicksand”-like conditions. I’ll side with sparky the ¾-inch GRC is just right for ¾-inch rods. A ±3x18-inch shaft scrap can be welded to a ¾x6-inch GRC nipple, and three more nipples strung together with couplings. After reaching ~2-foot rod exposure, depending on elbow room, remove the nipples one at a time, or, reversing the driver and use the GRC attachment as a handle to limit stoop labor.